In the art of reclaiming hydrocarbon solvents from solvent-bearing waste sludges such as produced in the paint and dry cleaning industries, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,586, a material such as lime is mixed with the solvent-bearing sludge, and a batch of the mixture is fed into a processing vessel. Steam is introduced into the vessel to volatize the solvent, and the steam and the solvent vapor are directed from the vessel through a condenser from which the condensed solvent and water are pumped to a storage tank. The solids within the mixture are collected within the processing vessel, and after a predetermined processing period, the hot water and solids are pumped from the vessel to a storage tank. Subsequently, the mixture is passed through a filter system which separates the solid particles or solids from the water so that the water may be reused within the processing vessel and the solids may be disposed of as waste.
One of the problems resulting from collecting the solid particles within the processing vessel is that the particles tend to agglomerate into a solid mass which is difficult to remove from the vessel. When this occurs, the agglomerated mass of solids must be broken up into sufficiently small particles which can be pumped or otherwise removed from the bottom outlet of the vessel.